Christmas is upon us, and this is my first year with a child old enough to be excited about and understand the holiday. I figured it was time to really solidify what our traditions would be. Truth be told, I am having a hard time picking “traditions” that I will still want to do in 10 years! I’m feeling a lot of pressure to come up with cutesy, festive activities, and it is daunting! When I first had kids, I had this vision of myself being a holly jolly mommy, baking cookies, and going all out on decorations!
The reality is: I need to lower my expectations!
I remember Christmas being so fun and magical as a child, and now I just think, “gosh, my parents must have been exhausted!” I am too! So my goal is to dial it back. Our only tradition will be that there are no “traditions”. Perhaps, along the way, we’ll pick some up. But I want to enjoy the holidays with my kids, not worry about checking off a list of yearly activities. I want to do things that seem like fun at the moment and be flexible about what works for our family at that stage, allowing our kids some room to call the shots and decide what fun things we’ll do from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve and even the holidays beyond.
So this year, we baked cookies on a whim and watched Mickey and Minnie Wish Upon a Christmas about 12 million times. We have worn Christmas jammies since Thanksgiving, hung out with Santa, and have done whatever sounded good at the moment. I’m feeling much more relaxed and I know my kids are still having a great time, and I’m glad I can be present enough to enjoy it!
